Trending Articles
Trending Topics
Trending
We’ve come a long way in harvesting renewables like wind, hydro and solar and turning them into energy. LV Energy, a Dutch startup based in Amsterdam, is proposing we add another source to the mix: sound.
It’s a simple enough proposition: sound, much like wind, generates vibrations. Those vibrations carry kinetic energy. The challenge here is scalability, as it takes a lot of noise to generate the same ratio of energy that a wave might carry. Similarly, it’s not so simple to capture it.
This is where LV Energy comes into play. The startup received an Innovation Honoree award at CES 2025 for its prototype modular solution, which is designed to be stackable and customisable for different use cases.
The video below shows one such unit lighting up when sound is collected – the company believes it can deploy multiple units in tunnels, for example, and power up lighting just from the sound of cars or trains passing by. It’s hoping to put this to the test at the Coentunnel.
As the world’s demand for clean energy continues to increase, turning noise pollution into a sustainable source of power is an appealing idea. For now, the startup is focusing its attention on factories and manufacturing as a proof of concept.
We spoke to Satish Jawalapersad, General Director at LV Energy, who told us a bit more about the company’s ambitions. Interview below, edited for clarity.
Satish Jawalapersad (SJ): We are based in Holland, Europe, where energy is currently expensive. Simultaneously, there’s the ambition to achieve net zero. To meet both low energy prices and net zero, you have to look for out-of-the-box solutions.
We believe that sound waves can be harvested to generate energy, much like solar or wind power. Everybody knows that sound can be a source of power; it just hasn’t been utilised as such. We found a way to harvest it as a source of energy.
The way it works is that we pick up on sound waves and vibration in the air – like those generated by heavy machinery for example – condense it and then convert it into electricity. In some cases, that energy can be immediately fed back to the source of the sound, creating a sort of closed circuit, a feedback loop-like experience. For instance, say that the machine generating sound is a car engine; that noise and vibration can be converted into energy that gets fed back to the battery of the car.
Same goes for infrastructure, like tunnels, subways, trains, anything that makes noise – even your better half being angry at you!
SJ: To be truly honest, the idea came from my best friend, who has since passed away. I took over the company to keep his legacy alive – it’s his idea, and I just stepped in to help.
We’ve spent the last two years in R&D. A lot of it! When my friend passed away, a lot of knowledge was gone with him. So I had to get other people involved in the company figuring out what he was doing. We picked up from there and evolved the product to become even better.
Right now we’re doing a lot of proof of concepts with initial customers. We’re doing a pilot with the company that built Jeff Bezos’ yacht, OceanCo, which has a big factory with six big machines; we are very proud to say that because those machines make a lot of noise we were able to harvest 1,800 volts or roughly two kilowatts per hour. That’s just noise that we give back to the factory in the form of energy, which lowers their operating costs.
SJ: I sure can. Let’s do a demo. My colleague will speak at the device and you’ll see how the lights come on.
